Chocolate mochi seashells

by Kirbie

I have to confess, I'm pretty proud of this recipe. Sometimes I try to create my own recipes, by fiddling with and combining previous ones I've tried, and the result isn't always good. But I absolutely loved how these came out. It's definitely now on my list of favorite recipes.

Growing up, I only ate the traditional mochi (i.e., plain white, non-flavored mochi). When I first started seeing all sorts of different flavored mochi like honeydew, coconut, grape, I was pretty skeptical. I've tried most of the different flavors and have liked some and hated others.

The idea of chocolate mochi intrigued me for a while. I knew some people who loved it. In my mind, I wasn't sure how I would like the mixing of the two tastes. When I made mochi with chocolate ganache filling, I really enjoyed it. So I figured chocolate mochi would be good too.

I really wanted something with a rich chocolate taste. I had seen various chocolate mochi recipes. Some of the comments were that it wasn't as chewy as other mochi recipes. I didn't want the mochi to lose it's chewiness. So I took my various mochi experiences and created this recipe: one that is rich in chocolate and manages to maintain the chewiness of mochi. I then used my Nordicware Seashell pan so that I could make the mochi bite sized.

The use of the dutch processed cocoa and chocolate chips give this recipe a deep chocolate taste. I think they might even taste good without the chocolate chips. The addition of coconut milk keeps the mochi cakes quite chewy. The only thing is that the addition of the chocolate chips make some of the seashells shapes look a bit lumpy. Oh well.